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Architects: Sala 03 Arquitetura
- Area: 392 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Favaro Jr
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Lead Architects: João Pedro Osório, Caue Baldi
Text description provided by the architects. The Albatroz House was designed to be the summer refuge for the couple and their two children. The family came to Sala 03 Architecture through other ongoing and finished projects in the gated neighborhood, where they recently acquired three lots, which were then unified and divided into 2. This strategy provided more usable space since the lots are on a slope, posing significant architectural challenges. The fact that the client owns a company specializing in the planning and construction of residential and commercial buildings, fast construction, and real estate developments, among others, provided him with great ease to understand and work with different ideas, materials, and solutions than the more usual ones found in houses with similar area, where cost usually becomes an impasse to the execution of more elaborate solutions.
The lot's lateral slope allowed for the garage's relocation from the front of the house, creating a clean volume on the façade. The choice to use CLT (cross-laminated timber) on the ground floor brought several positive points to light, chief among them: the structure is light, and the finishing is the timber itself, which provides a more natural aesthetic; with that, the integration between the surrounding greenery and the lot became more seamless. Concomitantly, the lower floor was built with a metallic structure, waffle slabs (typical in large constructions), stone, concrete, and other raw-looking materials, utilized specifically, whereas the sensation of weight is not apparent.
The pool’s infinity edge makes it so, as its view of the golf course and the surrounding nature are a couple of the house’s outstanding characteristics. Passing through the main doors, the entry hall is already connected to the living area, fully integrated with the gourmet kitchen and the dining room. The frame between this area and the deck area, the pool, and the sauna was designed to be 100% open, and the foliage lodged in fake walls provided the sensation of complete integration between the interior and exterior. Behind the kitchen’s woodwork lies hidden the utility room and the restroom. Three en suite bedrooms complete the ground floor.
Going down the helical stairs (or coming in from the garage) is the lower floor, which houses the machine room, a media room, and a multipurpose room, designed to be used as a gym, game room, and atelier, depending on the family’s wishes at any particular moment. As previously cited, the house was built using various materials, ranging from conventional masonry and metal beams to the CLT over waffle slabs. The roofing is lightweight with a TPO membrane over OSB panels, such as wall coverings, moledo stones, concrete slats, white paint on the wooden floors, and cementitious coating.
Everything was done with harmony in mind, even with such a different array of materials being used together. The interior decorations adhere to the clean style adopted by Sala 03 Architecture in its projects, where the clean aspect is taken seriously. A few pieces of furniture gain a slight accent over walls, and the built-in cabinetry, which is strategically thought out so as not to draw attention. This way, we do not feel overwhelmed by information in any environment within the house. Everything is functional, and the pieces harmonize well. In this case, the highlight goes to the house as a whole, which functions harmonically, with no pieces receiving excessive attention and no pieces that look out of place or out of context. The most beautiful views are the front and back views of the house, framed by the windows and the wooden louvers.
